Essay: Ethan Allen

Ethan Allen was a controversial, longsuffering soldier in the revolutionary war. He believed that the value of land was based on the amount of work put into it, which gave land owners the right to defend their moral title. He is most well known for his leadership of “the green mountain boys” in 1775. January 21, 1738 in Litchfield, Connecticut, Joseph and Mary Baker Allen give birth to their first born son, Ethan Allen. They then decided to move to Cornwall, where they would eventually have seven other children. All of which, survived into adulthood. His family stayed there for the remainder of his parents lives, while the little town began to be built up around them.
He was a well known for how he excelled in philosophy, even as a boy being known to be able to quote and dispute Bible passages. He attempted to study with a minister in a nearby town, but was forced to finish after his father died in 1775. He didn’t join the military until 1757, when he participated in The Siege of Fort William Henry. Although the French and Indian War lasted for another several years, The Siege of Fort William Henry was the only event he served in.
In 1762, Ethan Allen became a co-owner of an iron furnace in Salisbury. In that same year, he married his first wife, Mary Brownson. Not many of the accounts of his first marriage are very positive, but the marriage lasted until her death in 1783. In 1764, he bought a farm to help develop his iron works. He gambled with his property until October of 1765 when the Allen brothers sold their iron works. Around this time he started to get into a little bit of trouble. While he didn’t commit any major crimes, there are accounts of him stealing pigs, and then getting sued over it.
In 1770, Ethan Allen and other settlers of Bennington met and formed the Green Mountain Boys. The Green Mountain Boys were a militia group lead by Ethan Allen, named Colonel Commandant. In time, they would form committees of safety, that created rules to prevent New York from pronouncing it’s authority. Ethan Allen devoted much of his time to exploring the territory, rather than dealing with territory grants. He drove out many original settlers, and this is where his quarrels with Governor William Tryon begin.
Through the years, Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys continued to take over more land and grants. Governor Tryon once went as far as to put a £20 price in his head, along with 5 other Green Mountain Boys. While Ethan Allen continued to take more land grants, Governor Tryon continued actions against them. This continued until the revolutionary war. In April of 1775, Allen received an a letter requesting help in the Battle of Ticonderoga. While Ethan Allen’s own account said he had a sudden surge of patriotism, many believe that he joined because winning this battle would improve his chance of winning any legal battles with the grants. The raid was scheduled for May 10th, and the men sailed to Shoreham. On May 9th, Benedict Arnold arrived to the battle, asserting his right to lead the raid.
The men refused to follow Benedict Arnold, so that night, Arnold and Allen came up with a compromise, where they would both lead the men, together. At around 2:00 am, troops began crossing to the mainland. Only a little over 80 men had crossed, when Ethan Allen decided to attack, in fear that the sun would come up too early. Allen went straight to the fort commander’s cabin, and cornered him. He surrendered, along with the rest of the fort. The only injury was a man who got a concussion due to Allen hitting him with a cutlass.
After this, they had raids on surrounding settlements, Fort Crown Point and St. John. While the invasion of fort crown point was extremely successful, St. John was a total failure by Allen. This lead to him stepping down as the commander of the regiment. He was then replaced entirely when they elected a new commander, due to Allen’s raid failures and massive ego. General Richard Montgomery was then appointed as the commander. Fresh off the rejection of being the commander, Allen was becoming a nuisance in the regiment. Likely because of this, Montgomery sent him off to go roundup a regiment of French Canadians.